Tulisa Contostavlos charged in connection with the supply of Class A drugs

Former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos has been charged in connection with the supply of Class A drugs.

“The Crown Prosecution Service has today authorised the Metropolitan Police Service to charge Tulisa Contostavlos, 25, with being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs,” the statement read.

“This charge relates to an investigation by The Sun newspaper between early March 2013 and 23 May 2013 which resulted in the supply of Class A drugs to an investigative journalist.

“This decision to prosecute was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors. We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest.”

The singer, who first found fame with the band N Dubz, will appear in court on 19 December.

The 25-year-old was arrested at the beginning of June on suspicion of supplying class A drugs.

Her arrest, and that of a 35-year-old man, came one day after the Metropolitan Police confirmed it had “received information concerning the alleged supply of illegal drugs at a central London location.”

An article that appeared in the Sun on Sunday accused the singer of introducing one of their investigative journalists to an alleged drug dealer. The newspaper claimed that their reporter was then sold an illegal substance at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

Tulisa’s lawyer Ben Rose said she would be denying the charge and that she joined a line of celebrities who had had been used as “fodder by greedy newspapers”.

“Tulisa has been charged with a serious criminal offence to which she will plead not guilty,” his statement read.

“This case is not simply about drug supply. It is about the limits which we set on the conduct of journalists.

“The media have rightly been criticised in recent years for gross invasion into the private life of others.

“Tulisa is the latest in a long line of people who have been treated as fodder by greedy newspapers.

“This was a deliberate attempt to target a young woman who is all the more vulnerable because of her celebrity status.

“In due course Tulisa will give a full answer to these allegations in court.”